1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to equipment used in the sport of rock climbing. It is particularly directed to spring loaded camming devices used in such rock climbing, and provides an enhanced cam actuating mechanism.
2. State of the Art
Spring loaded camming devices (SLCDs), or commonly “cams”, are advantageously used in the sport of rock free-climbing as a source of leader protection for cracks having substantially parallel sides. In a typical climbing scenario, SLCDs are temporarily placed by a leading climber into cracks as protection, and clipped to a rope attached to the leading climber, as the leading climber advances up a rock face. A following climber generally “cleans”, or removes such protection from the crack.
At times, SLCDs placed into cracks may “walk” under the action of friction from the rope as a climber is climbing. In such circumstance, the camming device may move deeper into the crack from the initial placement location. It is not uncommon for a SLCD to walk, from an original placement location, deeper into a crack until its trigger is contained inside the crack.
It is possible for a walking SLCD to work its way (or even to be placed by the leading climber), sufficiently deep inside a crack that a following climber may be unable to retrieve it with his/her hand. Two situations commonly arise which create cam retrieval difficulty: either the cleaning climber's hand/fingers cannot engage the trigger due to crack constriction, or the camming device is too deep for the climber to reach. Sometimes, the crack is simply too narrow to admit passage of the follower's fingers to a sufficient depth. In a crack that is slightly less narrow, the follower's fingers still may not have sufficient room to pass between the trigger of the SLCD and a wall of the crack. If the climber's fingers cannot get a purchase on the SLCD's trigger, the SLCD can be very difficult to remove from the crack.
A dedicated cam actuating and retrieving device has been commercially available under the name “Friend of a friend”, and is indicated generally at 100 in FIG. 1. This device 100 has an actuator arranged somewhat similar to a syringe, and has a fixed length of perhaps about 8-10 inches in its stowed (compact) position. The “fingers” 102 are formed from the tubular metal body 104, and are therefore fixed in position to cooperate with the “thumb” 106. Such fixed fingers 102 cannot be placed into retracting engagement on a trigger of an SLCD that is in a narrow crack (e.g. a crack that is about ⅜ to ⅝ inches in width, or so), because the fingers 102 have a fixed height “H”, which cannot be inserted into the crack to pass between the SLCD's trigger and a wall of the crack.
Nut cleaning tools are also sometimes used as an aid to retrieve cams which are unreachable by hand. A representative nut cleaning tool is indicated generally at 110 in FIG. 2. Such nut cleaning tools 110 may be formed from steel sheet metal of about 10 gage, or so. Nut cleaning tools generally have a hook 112 which may be used to snag a SLCD's trigger. However, it can be difficult to coordinate pulling on the nut tool while simultaneously pushing on the stem of the SLCD to cause the individual cam lobes to rotate. Furthermore, the hook 112 typically engages the trigger of the stuck SLCD effective only to actuate a single cam element, or perhaps a pair of cam elements. Therefore, the remaining (and unretracted), cam elements of the SLCD can resist removal of the SLCD from the crack.
A need exists for a tool to assist in retrieving cams which become wedged too deep in a crack for a climber to remove either by hand or with the assistance of a commercially available device. It would be an advance to provide a cam actuating tool capable of actuating a cam in even a very narrow crack. It would be a further advancement if such tool provided the ability to place and remove a cam at an extended distance compared with available devices.